Passengers travelling to Newcastle endure 17 hour delay as pilot catches up on his sleep

Pamela Howarth, Les Barrett and children Eleanor, one, and Christopher, three

Passengers travelling back to Newcastle endured a 17 hour delay after claims the pilot had to catch up on his sleep.

They were travelling back on budget airline Jet2.com’s flight from Las Palmas in Gran Canaria which was due in at 2am on Sunday. It eventually touched down at 7.03pm.

According to passengers, problems began when the outward bound plane from Newcastle on which they were to return was delayed several hours in the North East because of technical problems.

They said they were told by officials that by the time it touched down in Gran Canaria the pilot, who was also in charge of the return flight, would have been in breach of his flying time regulations if he had set off on time. Instead he had to take his statutory rest period.

Among the passengers were Les Barrett, 38, his partner Pamela Howarth, 30, and their children Eleanor aged one and Christopher aged three.

Les of Seaham, County Durham, said: “We were put up in the Marriott hotel, which was very nice, but they should have had a pilot on stand by out there to step in.

“We were given vouchers to spend but they didn’t last every long. We ran out of nappies for the kids and just wanted to get home in the end.”

Fellow passenger Matthew Masterton of Cumbria agreed: “Why didn’t they have another pilot on stand by? It was crazy. I am absolutely shattered and it must have been worse for parents with kids. There were a lot of angry people there.”

Tom and Mary Davison

However Tom Davison, 63, of Sunderland, wasn’t one of the irate passengers.

He said: “I’m retired so I’ve got plenty of time. Apparently it started with a fuel pump problem in Newcastle which delayed the flight out to Las Palmas and it snowballed from there.

“It arrived about five or six hours late and unfortunately by the time it arrived the pilot was over his flight time hours so we had to wait.

“We were all put up in a nice hotel but you wonder if it could have been avoided if there was a stand-by pilot.”

Carlos Falero, who had the unique distinction of someone from Gran Canaria coming to the North East for a holiday, said: “It was all a bit crazy and people got angry. I think now everyone is just relieved to get here.”

It’s been a bad few weeks for Jet2.com and its service to and from Newcastle International Airport.

Earlier this month we revealed how a group of 40 passengers was forced to leave one of its Newcastle-bound plane from Palma, Majorca because of technical problems.

A few days before that incident a Faro-bound Jet2.com flight was turned around by its pilots due to what the airline described as “a minor issue.”

A Jet2.com spokesperson said the delay was due to regulations on crewing hours.

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